Youth prison charges flare up

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2012 at 11:47 AM

Inmates at an Ohio juvenile-detention center in Delaware are sometimes locked in their cells up to 24 hours a day, and conditions there remain unconstitutional, according to a new filing in a continuing lawsuit. As part of the 2004 federal class-action lawsuit over conditions at state youth prisons, the filing in federal court on Monday names the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility, one of four youth prisons. As part of a settlement in 2008, the state agreed to reform the facilities and allow court monitoring.

Pamela Engel, The Columbus Dispatch

Inmates at an Ohio juvenile-detention center in Delaware are sometimes locked in their cells up to 24 hours a day, and conditions there remain unconstitutional, according to a new filing in a continuing lawsuit.

As part of the 2004 federal class-action lawsuit over conditions at state youth prisons, the filing in federal court on Monday names the Scioto Juvenile Correctional Facility, one of four youth prisons. As part of a settlement in 2008, the state agreed to reform the facilities and allow court monitoring.

The new filing says inmates are “confined in their cells ... for up to 24 hours per day, often without appropriate education, recreation, therapeutic services and leisure time activities.” The motion charges that the young people are being confined under “cruel and unusual” conditions in violation of the settlement and the U.S. Constitution.

“While we cannot speak specifically about the filing, as it is a pending legal matter, we are always concerned when allegations about constitutionality are raised,” said Eileen Corson, a spokeswoman for Ohio’s Department of Youth Services. “We work hard to ensure all youth are treated fairly and their rights are protected.”

The filing by Cincinnati lawyer Al Gerhardstein, the lead attorney in the class-action case, said the state has failed to do what it agreed to do.

“DYS has had more than four years to bring conditions on these units into compliance with the stipulation. … Attempts by DYS to address the severe deprivations these youth suffer have not and will not be successful until the underlying problems with design and implementation barriers are addressed.”

The filing focuses on those confined in Scioto’s PROGRESS units.

“They’re called ‘special-management units,’ and they are living areas that are designed to hold youth that the department has determined to be unmanageable in the general population,” Gerhardstein said. “We think (the units) should be abolished.”

Harvey Reed, director of the Department of Youth Services, “is locking youth for extended periods of time — up to 24 hours per day — in special-management units causing severe harm to members of the class. This must stop. This is not a new issue,” the filing said.

Several inmates filed declarations in the lawsuit. They are identified only by their initials.

“For the last two and a half years, most of my time was in seclusion,” said one inmate who spent six years in Youth Services facilities. “I hated being in my room. It made me mad. It made my anger issues way worse.”

Gerhardstein said the programming in the PROGRESS units is insufficient.

“Most youth classified for a unit like this are in tremendous need of a lot of mental-health treatment,” he said. “The goal is to make sure we have programming appropriate to their needs. To lock a kid down for extended periods each day is to give up on them.”